7 months ago
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A caller Zonal Drainage Master Plan (ZDM) for Bengaluru is connected the cards nether the World Bank-backed Water Resilient Project being undertaken by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
However, the lack of reliable stormwater and sewage web information and mismanagement of drain networks by assorted civic agencies are apt to marque the task challenging for existent planners and implementing authorities.
“Bengaluru presently lacks a robust stormwater drain and sewage network, which has been a large contributing origin to the city’s predominant flooding. The ZDM volition not lone assistance code existing gaps, but besides measure and program for aboriginal challenges,” said a GBA authoritative monitoring the project.
Comprehensive blueprint
The ZDM volition service arsenic a broad blueprint for managing stormwater and drainage systems crossed Bengaluru oregon wrong the GBA’s jurisdiction. “Developing the caller ZDM volition impact evaluating the existing drainage infrastructure, identifying gaps and vulnerabilities, and proposing targeted solutions to heighten the ratio and resilience of the network,” a root told The Hindu.
The workout volition see elaborate mapping, investigation of rainfall and runoff patterns, and recommendations for upgrades and maintenance. A halfway constituent of the program volition beryllium the instauration of an integrated representation combining earthy and man-made drainage systems, onshore use, and topographical features. It volition besides diagnostic flood hazard assessments and strategies aligned with aboriginal municipality maturation and development.
While the task builds connected the existing IISc Bengaluru Flood Mitigation Model, the ZDM volition enactment arsenic an hold to it. As reported by The Hindu earlier, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) volition collaborate intimately with IISc and IIT Madras to instrumentality the project.
CSTEP and WELL Labs, which are providing services nether a non-profit memorandum, volition enactment the GBA successful circumstantial areas of the ZDM. In particular, WELL Labs volition absorption connected ZDM preparation, portion CSTEP volition grip hazard analysis.
Not the first
However, this is not the archetypal clip specified a program has been proposed. In 2022, the past Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced a akin initiative, prompted by the 2021 CAG audit connected the show of stormwater absorption successful Bengaluru. The audit highlighted the lack of a robust argumentation for stormwater governance and noted that “the State authorities and BBMP failed to see municipality aboveground runoff arsenic a h2o assets contempt increasing h2o scarcity successful the metropolis and State.”
Four years person passed since that announcement, yet the concern has not improved. This time, however, the civic assemblage has nary prime but to act, arsenic the World Bank volition merchandise funds based connected implementation outcomes, a process known arsenic Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).
Not casual road
Still, the task up for the GBA volition not beryllium easy. There is simply a important information spread concerning stormwater drains and their web crossed the city. Historically, antithetic parastatal agencies person executed drainage-related projects independently, without coordination, information sharing, oregon documentation speech with different civic bodies. Many of these task files person since gone missing, an contented flagged successful the CAG report. As a result, GBA indispensable present trust connected aggregate fragmented sources for captious information.
According to a root progressive successful the project, crowdsourcing and national information to stitchery information could beryllium an effectual approach. However, the last determination connected adopting this strategy is yet to beryllium made.
